Freshness is what everyone seeks as it always keeps you jubilant all the way. Especially in cinema, a fresh narration with things that are new to us, definitely keeps the tempo high. Stories have been made, re-made and done again. Yet, it’s the platter (screenplay) in which a director presents the stories makes it a worthy watch. The style of making differs yet newly arrived directors of contemporary times have the pulse of the audience in their fingertips.

Movies of theirs that are making a great impact in the box-office are evident for the fact said above. Filmgoers in Tollywood have always had the taste for freshness and they always gave a graceful welcome for such cinemas. The industry gives a one time chance for the directors who proved their excellence and retained themselves in the tinsel town. All these talks arise after the arrival of new comers in the directorial part and their acclaimed movies.

Indiaglitz goes through the present trend of movies, by debutant directors and the way they bagged success with their very first venture.

Shekhar Kammula – Happy Days

The new trend of cinemas that are refreshingly different was created by Shekhar Kammula’s ‘Happy Days’. The movie with its close-to-life storyline, real life characters and crisp narration was the first to start this era of movies based on the mindset of young people. A number of movies followed in the same line yet ‘Happy Days’ still remains the best for it’s originality.

The director posted his flag at Hollywood with ‘Dollar Dreams’, and gave a savory coffee like treat to the Tollywood audience with ‘Anand’ (ok manchi coffee lanti cinema). Shekhar Kammula brought the real life trend into Telugu Cinema with ‘Anand’. Later, it was ‘Happy Days’ that became a milestone in his directorial path. Even though, the movie was not his debut trial, it is the movie that acclaimed laurels for the maker and also bought a new era of realistic movies. Presently, he is busy working to remake ‘Happy Days’ in Hindi.

Vamsi Krishna Akella – Raksha

Movies based on horror genre are quite rare in Indian cinema, and it is seldom made in Tollywood. Yet, first time director Vamsi Krishna Akella came out with flying colors with the success of his movie ‘Raksha’. Script writer of the Hindi ‘Phoonk’, Vamsi worked alongside RGV to bring out a spine chilling thriller.

During scripting, their narrative style was not in the same wavelength, yet impressed by Vamsi’s style Ram Gopal Varma offered him to direct the movie in Telugu. A movie made on a relatively low budget made a dash in the box-office and huge collections started pouring in its opening week itself. Raksha’s reach was more than enough to place the director among the list of elites in their debut ventures.

Cameraman Siva – Souryam

Courageous director Siva of ‘Souryam’ made a spectacular entry with his first step. Gopichand known for mass subjects made one more hit with this new director. Acquainted widely as an able cameraman in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, the maker was camping for an opportunity and grabbed the first one that came along. He is a gold medalist from the film institute of Adyar in Chennai.

Although naïve to Telugu, his movie Souryam packed a load of mass commercial elements that entertained the audiences and led to its successful run. Siva’s taut knowledge about the expectation of fans and taste of spectators is evident which happens to be his strength.

Srikanth Addala – Kotha Bangaru Lokam

A post-graduate lecturer-turned-director from Rajahmundry made the recent hit ‘Kotha Bangaru Lokam’. He is Srikanth Addala whose keen interest in movies made him change tracks from teaching to cinemas. An inborn interest of writing poetry was his start into dream town.

In a function, as a stroke of luck Srikanth narrated a story which led him to become an assistant director for the film ‘Tagore’, followed by ‘Arya’ and ‘Bommarillu’ which promoted him as an associate. ‘Dil’ Raju impressed by his work offered him the chance for ‘Kotha Bangaru Lokam’. Packaging a message that reaches the parents and children alike without evoking their disinterest is his pros in his first.

Ajay Sastry – Nenu Meeku Telusa

The most stylish movie of the year ‘Neenu Meeku Telusa’ was Ajay Sastry’s first movie that gained accolades all over. He is a man of varied talent as a singer, a dancer, an orator, a poet, screenplay writer and now also a director. He did a short film titled ’12’ (Baraah) and worked as an associate and screenplay writer for the movies Rakhi and Danger.

The promos made for NMT itself astonished the crowd for it was so lavish and stylishly done. His experience in ad filmmaking was opaque in his promoting skills. His way of story telling and depicting it on screen stands as his biggest assets.

Parasuram – Yuvatha

A pupil of popular director Puri Jagannath, Parasuram made his maiden venture that delivered the audience of whatever is expected of him. He worked as an associate with his mentor and his work reflected perfection. Starring Nikhil of ‘Happy Days’ fame, his first had all the essentials to make it big among the masses. A combination of youthful theme sprinkled with action in the script led to Parasuram’s success as a first time director in Tollywood. The maker did keep up his director Puri Jagannath’s name and did a wonderful job.

En Route

Inspired by these directors, new aspiring people are gearing up to showcase their creativity as directors in Tollywood. Some of them are – K.R.K. coming with ‘Ekloveyudu’; With ‘Aavakai Biryani’ and ‘Vinayakudu’ the associates of Shekhar Kammula, Anish Kuruvilla and SaiKiran Adavi respectively.

The fragrance of these successes is inspiring new talent to step in as directors. A welcome change to the Telugu cinema which might alter the face of Tollywood.

A good start, indeed!